LR4 Makita Dust Shoe Alignment

Hi!

I’m hoping someone can do a sanity check for me on this.

While assembling the LR4 core, I found that the Makita dust shoe (printables /1033926-makita-701-tool-mount-and-dust-shoe-for-the-lowrid) didn’t seem to fit quite right (RT0701C). The collet nut was uncomfortably close to one edge of the shoe, and/or the bottom of dust shoe didn’t seem parallel with the table. By adjusting the orientation of the router and printed parts, I was not able to identify a good fit.

Checking the models in Blender, I found that when the dust shoe is seated tightly against the tool mount, the center of the cutting tool hole is not exactly aligned with the center of the tool mounts or spindle. This causes the cutting tool to sit off center in the opening, and the cup of the dust shoe (?) to collide with the collet lock button assembly.

By aligning the centers of the tool mounts and dust shoe tool hole, I was able to crudely shift the mounting flange on the dust shoe so that it correctly matched up with the flange on the tool mount. That, and very slightly widening the the top of the lock button cutout on the side of the cup, proved to resolve the issues I was seeing with alignment and collision.

If I’ve misused any terms, or misunderstood an intentional design choice, please correct me! :slight_smile:

(Top-down view of the tool mount [blue] and dust shoe [green] flange overlap when the centers are aligned. Red line added to more clearly define the edge of the tool mount since it’s partially obscured.)

3 Likes

Oh, good. It’s not just me! :slight_smile:

I’ve noticed the same thing, but figured it was just a defect in my print. I will say, it’s working good enough as is (for me) but getting the dust skirt on securely is a bit fiddly.

I though so too until I took it into Blender! Thanks for confirming I’m not just losing it.

Maybe someone with access to the original files (or more time/skills than I have to re-model from scratch) can make a cleaner fix. This is the janky version I came up with that seems to fit correctly.

lowrider-v4-DustShoeMakitaMod-v3.stl.zip (1.2 MB)